Hinson Prefers Sharing The Spotlight

Jamestown running back David Hinson started the season off with a bang by rushing for 194 yards and five touchdowns, all in the first half against Kenmore West. The following week he had 189 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Orchard Park.

Those accomplishments made Hinson an instant star and suddenly the Buffalo electronic and print media were putting him in the spotlight.

Last Saturday, Hinson had “only” 120 yards and two touchdowns. Was Hinson disappointed? No, he was happy to be out of the spotlight.

“I get my spotlight in track,” said Hinson, who made it to the state track championships as a hurdler and a member of a 1,600-meter relay team. “Football’s my love. I love it because it’s a team sport. I don’t want all the attention to be on me because I haven’t done all the work. My teammates help me, too. They’re doing just as much work as I am, so I want them to get the credit just like I’m getting the credit. If it wasn’t for them, I couldn’t score five touchdowns. I wouldn’t have any touchdowns.”

Last Saturday, five other players scored touchdowns and defensive players contributed in a total team effort, which pleased Hinson.

“I like it when there’s a game like that, when Chad (Pike) and Jamie (Bloomquist) get the MVP so that fans will realize there are people on the team other than David Hinson,” he said.

That low-key approach sounds like Barry Sanders of the Detroit Lions, who happens to be Hinson’s favorite runner.

“I’ve always admired Barry Sanders, but I don’t run like Barry Sanders,” Hinson said. “I always thought he was the greatest running back because he doesn’t have a line. I thought if you can run like that without a line, you must be good.”

Like Sanders, Hinson has seen limited playoff action. Hinson had a taste of the football state championships last season when he played mainly on defense. In the Class A title game in the Carrier Dome, he returned a fumble 95 yards for a touchdown in a 24-12 loss to North Rockland. Then he was involved in a state championship again in the spring in track. But if Hinson had a choice in state titles, he would prefer football.

“In track, the state championship is just you,” he said. “If you win it, all the attention goes to you. If you lose it, you don’t get the attention. In a team sport, it’s not just one person. Everybody has to work together or you can’t win a championship. If one person doesn’t do their job, we can’t do it. I can try to run the ball, but if my guard, tackle and end don’t block, I can’t go anywhere. They block for me and I run for them.”

Last season, Hinson didn’t do much running. He only carried the ball 37 times for 171 yards.

“Last year, he started out very slow, very tentative,” said Assistant Coach Joe DiMaio, who is in charge of running backs. “We really didn’t see anything. We said, ‘Well, he’s quick. He’ll be a good defensive back.’”

DiMaio said with speedy Andy Benson returning and Hinson back with a season of experience under his belt, they’d have a good pair of tailbacks.

“I didn’t think he’d be anything like this,” DiMaio said about Hinson.

Head coach Wally Huckno recalled about his 5-foot-9, 170-pound senior, “We saw flashes of brilliance when we got into the playoffs, but I wondered about his durability. That’s been answered. He’s taken quite a few shots.”

Didn’t that lack of offensive playing time last year upset Hinson?

“It didn’t really matter to me,” he said. “The coaches know what they’re doing. Jamie Nelson (last year’s 1,000-yard rusher) was a better running back than me last year. I was only a junior and a little inexperienced. I didn’t know the varsity offense like I do now. They put me in there a little bit so I would be ready this year. They knew what they were doing. If they would have started me last year, I probably would have made stupid, immature mistakes that Jamie didn’t make.”

Hinson expected to have a good season, but so far things are ahead of schedule.

“I’ve always been a good running back since I was a little kid,” he said. “I did it at the ninth-grade level and I did it at the jayvee level and now am doing it at the varsity level. I just didn’t think I’d be doing this good.”

The main reason for Hinson’s success is his moves.

“I think we may have had some faster running backs, but we’ve never had anybody with moves like him,” DiMaio said. “He’s still going north and south when he puts the moves on, that’s what’s amazing. To make a cut, some kids have to stop and go sideways which makes them real easy to tackle. David seems to be able to cut while still gaining ground.”

Hinson learned those moves in pickup games as a youngster.

“I’ve always had moves,” he said. “When you play in the street, I lived in Bradmar Circle, you don’t have much room to move. You can’t run straight ahead or they’ll tag you, so you’ve got to put a move on them. You try to juke them so you can get some room to go the other way. I learned most of my moves from playing with my friends at Bradmar.”

He laughed, “The street’s only so wide so you’ve got to put a good move on someone to get past them.”

That is why when Hinson sees the expressway-width of a football field, his eyes light up. And when he gets around the corner, his afterburners light up.

“I wasn’t really that fast when I was a freshman and sophomore,” Hinson points out. “I had decent speed but I wasn’t outstanding because I really didn’t know how to run. Then my track coach Dave Reinhardt helped me learn how to sprint.”

And Huckno has seen how running hurdles and the 1,600-relay have helped Hinson in football. He said of all the runners he’s coached, Hinson is the fastest for 70 to 80 yards.

“I think it’s because of his hurdling, he doesn’t slow down. And he has the stamina from running the 400.”

Also, in last week’s win over West Seneca East, Huckno noticed for the second time this season Hinson leap over a defender as easily as a hurdle.

DiMaio added that Orchard Park coach Gene Tundo was amazed how Hinson carried one of his tacklers 5 yards into the end zone.

“He’s powerful, too,” DiMaio said, “He’s got extremely powerful legs.”

But Huckno was looking to Hinson’s speed as a key to the next three games starting with North Tonawanda followed by Lancaster and Frontier.

“These next three games, if we are going to stay in them, we must have speed,” Huckno said, referring to these opponents’ huge defensive linemen. “We will not be able to run off-tackle consistently.”

Hinson got off to a good start last night against North Tonawanda carrying the ball 29 times for 260 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-13 win.

Reinhardt must be watching Hinson’s football success with a smile, but also with his fingers crossed, hoping his star hurdler stays injury free. But in his run for a state title, Hinson again stressed he would rather do it on the football field.

“Football would be the most fun. I love it so much,” he said. “It’s not just me winning it. There will be 37 other people winning it. If I win a track state title, the only person I can celebrate with is myself.”